The new issue of the Kenyon Review has just launched, a special feature on “Literary Activism,” coedited by Rita Dove and John Kinsella–and in it, Xi Chuan’s poem “January 2011 in Egypt” 2011年1月埃及纪事 in the online edition. Here are some lines:
Eight thousand years after its founding the people are in a backwater earning too little always hearing about others making too much.
The piss stench of mules drifts through the alleys. Trash covers the wilderness.
Corrupt politics can’t manage the trash covering the wilderness; it can only keep the grand hall clean.
The midlevel official making E£500 a month and the doctor making E£150 a month demand change.
The youths banding together to vent their anger and despair don’t know each other. Vent first, then we’ll see.
So the smoke from burning tires rises from three sides of the temple,
choking the gods inside—they proclaim themselves to be aliens so they should get respect and protection.
Anxious foreigners are smoking in the airport waiting area and no one cares.
The Romanian girl who worried about having nowhere to put her feet later disappears in the chaos of the crowd.
Yana, where are you?
Among the rioters looting the flower shop may be one who wants a rose for his beloved.
Whether you can be his beloved depends entirely on whether you’re lucky enough to survive.
开国八千年后人民在一团死水中挣得太少但总听说别人挣得太多。
骡马的尿骚味沿街巷飘荡。垃圾遍及旷野。
腐败的政治顾不到垃圾遍及旷野，只把厅堂收拾干净。
月工资500埃镑的中层官吏、月工资150埃镑的医生要求变革。
抱团发泄愤怒和绝望的青年互不相识。发泄了再说。
于是焚烧轮胎的黑烟升起于神庙的三面，
神庙里的诸神呛了嗓子，声称自己是外星人理应受到保护和尊敬。
惴惴不安的外国人在候机厅里吸烟没人管。
飞机上担心没处落脚的罗马尼亚姑娘后来消失于慌乱的人群。
雅娜，你在哪里？
洗劫花店的暴徒中或有一位想把玫瑰花献给心上人。
你能否成为他的心上人全看你活下来的运气如何。
The whole looks great. In addition to Xi Chuan, there’s new work by Anne Carson, Robert Hass, Kwame Dawes, and others online, and in the print edition new work by Brenda Hillman, Nathaniel Mackey, and more.
Click here for the feature, starting with the introductions by Dove and Kinsella.
